Apr. 03, 2015

Festival of Fake Hypotheses Generates Real Laughs

What puts a thousand scientists in stitches? A festival of “Bad Ad hoc Hypotheses” (BAHs), convincingly argued. Ira talks with Zach Weinersmith, creator of the science-savvy webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, about creating BAHFest: a satirical festival that challenges science fans to construct real arguments for completely bogus hypotheses. Ira also hears from BAHFest participant Sarah Hird, who argues, using graphs and equations, that sleep evolved as an evolutionary mechanism for animals so they could escape their feelings of self-loathing. Plus, how good is your B(ad) S(cience) detector? Take our quiz and find out.